For a heart attack victim, Todd Hellams was in pretty bad shape when the first medic crews got to him at Fayetteville’s Wings and Things restaurant Aug. 28.

Lucky for Hellams, a new partnership between Fayette County EMS and Piedmont Hospital has significantly sped up the time it takes to get patients like him to a cardiac catheterization lab in downtown Atlanta.

Hellams, 40, was showing “very clear evidence of a pretty bad heart attack,” said EMS Capt. Doug Morris, one of the crew who treated Hellams at the restaurant.

Most anywhere else, Hellams would have been taken to the nearest hospital, which might have actually killed him because his heart attack was so bad, Morris said.

Instead, it took medics just 55 minutes to get Hellams from the restaurant’s floor to the cardiac cath lab at Piedmont in downtown Atlanta, Morris said.

Previously, Hellams would have been taken to a nearby hospital such as Piedmont Fayette where he would be stabilized and assessed before being taken downtown for the catheterization procedure.

Morris, speaking during a presentation to the county commission recently, noted that the medics were on scene when the hospital crew opened up Hellams’ blocked arteries. The cardiologist reported there was no long-term muscle damage from the heart attack, Morris said.

Hellams, who wanted to thank the county for its aggressive life-saving efforts, said he thanks the Lord every day because the medics were there for him and his family.

“These guys, what they did for me, was just truly amazing and God certainly had his hands on my shoulder and theirs,” Hellams said.

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